The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has further relaxed norms for the settlement of claims in certain cases. The retirement fund body in a recent circular said that EPFO members will be exempt from the requirement of uploading an image of a validated bank passbook or cheque leaf in some eligible cases.
“With a view to facilitate the speedy settlement of claims filed online and to reduce the rejection of claims due to the reason of non-uploading of the image of cheque leaf/ attested bank passbook while filing claims online, it has been decided with the approval of the CPFC to relax the requirement of mandatory uploading of the image of cheque leaf/ attested bank passbook for certain eligible cases based on certain validations which include Online Verification of the Bank KYC by concerned Bank/NPCI, Verification of Bank KYC by the employer using DSC, Seeded Aadhaar Number verified by UIDAI among others,” according to the EPFO circular dated May 28, 2024.
Citing reasons for giving this relaxation, the EPFO said that the bank KYC has been online verified by bank and has been digitally signed by the employer for this case among other validations and therefore, mandatory uploading of the image of cheque leaf/attested bank passbook is not required.
The retirement fund body has already sent communications in this regard to its field offices last month on May 9 and sent an email notification to its zonal offices on May 13, 2024.
“The claims being eligible for this relaxation would be soon color coded for ease of identification of such claims by the ‘dealing hands’ to prevent any inadvertent returning of such claims due to the reason of non-uploading of the image pf the checque leaf/bank passbook, alone”, the EPFO circular said.
Here are some frequently asked questions (FAQs) regarding EPFO claim settlement process:
Q: What are the requirements from the member to be for filing online claims?
Ans: Member should fulfil following conditions: a) The member should have activated his/her Universal Account Number
and the mobile number used for activating UAN should be in the working conditions. b) Member’s AADHAAR details should be seeded in EPFO database and he should avail OTP based facility for verifying eKYC from UIDAI while submitting the claim. c) Member’s Bank Account along with IFSC code should be seeded in EPFO database. d) Permanent Account Number (PAN) should be seeded in EPFO database for PF final settlement claims in case his/her service is less than 5 years.
Q: What are the service requirements for online filing of PF final settlement claims (Form-19)?
Ans: Member should fulfil following service conditions: a) Date of Joining and Date of Exit of Member should be available in the EPFO Database. b) Member should not be working presently under any establishment coverable under PF Act. c) The Claim should be submitted not before two months after leaving establishment.
Q: What are the additional service requirements for online filing of Pension Withdrawal Benefit Claim (Form-10C)?
Ans: Member’s total service should be more than 6 months and less than 9.5 years in addition to the conditions mentioned above for filing pension withdrawal benefit claim.
Q: What is the process for online claim submission?
Ans: Steps in Brief would be as follows:
a. Login to the member interface using UAN credentials.
b. Satisfy oneself that KYC and service eligibility conditions as mentioned against his UAN are correct and complete.
c. Select the relevant claim.
d. Authenticate using OTP received against the mobile registered with UIDAI to complete the online claim submission.